Cut off by Russian Gazprom, Ukraine Reduces Gas Consumption by Over 17%

Kyiv, July 17, 2014. The eastern European country of Ukraine, which has been cut off from Russian natural gas supply for a month now, managed to reduce domestic gas consumption in June down to 1.476 billion cubic meters - 17.3 percent decline compared with the previous month, according to the State Statistics Service. Notably, compared to June 2013 numbers, June 2014 gas consumption went down 18.4 percent.

As Ukrainian government reported earlier, in order to secure the 2014-2015 heating season, gas consumption by industry and central heating utilities should be decreased by 30 percent. At the same time, state enterprises should use 10 percent less gas.

During the period of August 2014 – March 2015 the following limits will be introduced: for industry – 7.53 billion cubic meters, public institutions and organizations – 0.63 billion cubic meters, central heating and power utilities – 5.85 billion cubic meters. It is planned that the total consumption volume during that period should not exceed 30.23 billion cubic meters of natural gas.

The volume of natural gas available in August – March will amount to 23 billion cubic meters. Thus, to cover the deficit Ukraine will have to import 7.23 billion cubic meters of natural gas. Ukraine’s gas import potential from the EU countries during the same period can reach up to 10.5 billion cubic meters. This way Ukrainian state is confident that frugal use of available natural gas and reverse gas supply from Europe will allow it to fully meet the needs for domestic consumption without having to import any Russian gas.

Remarkably, Ukraine has been pursuing energy independence from Russia for nearly ten years now. Thus, since 2005 and until 2013 the Eastern European state cut annual gas consumption by 26.042 billion cubic meters: 76.4 billion in 2005 as opposed to 50.358 billion cubic meters in 2013.